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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Udelhoven Oilfield System Services builds on 30 years of service in Alaska
Anchorage-based company credits consistent delivery of quality services for its expansion beyond the oil industry Alan Bailey PNA Contributing Writer
Udelhoven Oilfield System Services Inc. built its business from a one-man operation in Alaska to a corporation that operates across several states. The company provides a wide range of professional services, including mechanical and electrical construction, facility maintenance and quality assurance.
Chief Executive Officer Jim Udelhoven credits customer service and top-notch employees for the success of his Anchorage-based company. “Our reputation is very, very important to us,” he said.
Construction in the oil fields Udelhoven Oilfield System Services built its reputation by doing construction work in Cook Inlet and on the North Slope. The company started work for ARCO in Cook Inlet 30 years ago, before expanding into construction work on the North Slope in the late 1970s.
Over the years, Udelhoven Oilfield System Services has worked in all of Alaska’s oil fields.
Business in Cook Inlet has continued to the present with maintenance of the Marathon and Unocal facilities providing a core of ongoing work. But some major new projects on the Kenai Peninsula recently spurred an upsurge of activity.
“We’ve had a lot of growth on the Kenai over the past three years,” Udelhoven said. “We’re up to about 140 people employed on the Kenai.”
One of the largest current projects is the BP gas-to-liquids plant in Nikiski. Udelhoven Oilfield System Services is the electrical subcontractor on this high-tech project.
The company recently started installing the electrical heat trace in the GTL plant, according to Jim Gilbert, the company’s Alaska president. “Some of the pipe and some of the process needs a heat source to function properly, so this is an external type tracing that is applied to the piping,” he said.
Another major construction project is the expansion of Forest Oil’s Osprey platform. “We increased the above-water footprint, added additional decking and railings,” Gilbert said. “It’s all part of expanding the platform for their production facilities.”
Udelhoven Oilfield System Services assembled the Osprey platform when it was installed two and a half years ago. “We had welded the legs on that platform in English Bay when it first came in,” Udelhoven said.
Other significant work on the Kenai Peninsula includes construction work on Marathon’s new Wolf Lake gas field, as well as electrical and mechanical work at Agrium’s fertilizer plant.
Inspection work Since the oil price downturn of the 1990s, Udelhoven Oilfield System Services has focused its North Slope business from construction work to quality assurance and quality control services. “We’re furnishing owner companies with some management-type personnel,” Udelhoven said.
On the Northstar project, company staff inspected the electrical and mechanical construction. The company worked directly for BP and acted as the owner’s representative on the construction site. “We’re the owner’s eyes and ears to see that the job is built to the engineer’s specs and also to see that it meets the state and federal codes,” Udelhoven said.
Inspection and functional check-out work began during module construction at the fabrication sites in Anchorage.
“In the functional check-out we were actually testing the control systems to ensure that we have a unit that’s safe to operate, safe to start up, safe to shut down,” Gilbert said.
Following construction, assembly and testing of the production facilities, Udelhoven Oilfield System Services assisted with the operational startup of the plant.
With Northstar in operation, the company now maintains some of the plant. “We’re doing what we refer to as the technical maintenance (on the) turbine controls, and fire and gas systems,” Gilbert said.
The development of the Alpine field also required functional check-out. “We just finished the Alpine project last year, and probably the challenge there was that there were some delays in installation,” Gilbert said. “We were asked in September to come in and take over the functional check-out and start the unit up. We started up the plant Nov. 15.”
The company also is involved in Milne Point, and provides quality assurance and functional check-out personnel for developments in the Prudhoe Bay field.
Diversification Following the trauma of the oil price crash in the 1980s, the company stretched beyond the oil industry.
“We were originally 100 percent oil,” Udelhoven said. “A lot of the larger projects we’re now focusing on are outside of the oil industry to accomplish portfolio diversification.”
Most of the non-oil work involves electrical and mechanical subcontracting, such as the underground gas line at Fort Richardson that Udelhoven Oilfield System Services has been installing. The company also has done some mechanical jobs at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. “We’ve done a bunch of underground fuel lines for the parking of the 747s,” Udelhoven said.
School construction is also providing significant pieces of work for the company.“One of our large jobs this year is as mechanical contractor on the new Dimond High School,” Udelhoven said.
The company recently completed the electrical and mechanical construction for the Manokotak school near Dillingham and sometime next year will start building the Kotlik and Kiana schools.
Beyond Alaska As part of its diversification strategy, Udelhoven Oilfield System Services is expanding its operations to regions outside Alaska. The company has offices in Houston, Texas, and Washington state. It also has an inspection and functional check-out business in Venezuela.
Projects have included work on a power plant in Bermuda and in a refinery in Memphis, Tenn.
“We are involved in some of the deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico,” Udelhoven said.
The expansion of Udelhoven Oilfield System Services from a one-man operation 30 years ago to a corporation with nearly 400 employees today attests to the company’s success. That success stems from a resolve to value employees and provide high quality services.
The company mission statement reinforces the importance of customer satisfaction, sharing success with employees and maintaining the company’s reputation.
A profit-sharing plan reinforces employee motivation. “When we say we’re people-oriented, we’re really people-oriented,” Udelhoven said. “It allows us to operate with a lot less management oversight because people want to do a good job. They know we’re going to share the profits with them.
“We as a company set ourselves apart from the competition,” said Udelhoven. “We have a mission statement and we pretty much abide and live by it.”
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